The region has the highest number of confirmed polio cases in the world and the outbreak has been spreading through west Africa.

Folu Ogundimu is an associate professor of journalism at MSU. He says the problem is local religious leaders and others are fighting efforts to get people vaccinated against polio. He says they claim it’s just a western plot to spread the AIDS virus or sterilize Muslim women.

The researchers hope to develop a media plan to convince people in northern Nigeria to accept the polio vaccine.

The MSU team left for Nigeria this weekend. They are scheduled to return to East Lansing at the end of January.